Railroad-car



(No Model.) H. H. SESSIONS.

RAILROAD GAR.

No. 373,098. Patented Nov. 15, 1887.

' aw JW/VVE/WOR avdwub I n, WITNESSES: W

A TTOHNEYS UNITED STA-res ATENT Prion.

PALACE e n eoMrANY,

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

RAILROAD-"CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 373,098, dated November 15, 1887.

Application filed April 29, 1887. Serial No. 236,581. (No model.)

To all whom) it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY HOWARD Sns- SIGNS, a citizen of the United States, residing at the village of Pullman, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in the Construction of Railroad-Oars; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings made a part of the same, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

The invention hereinafter particularly described is embodied in the application to the individual cars,which when coupled will compose a train, of a frame-shaped plate arranged in a vertical plane parallel with a vertical transverse plane passing through the car-bod y and projecting, by means of backing-springs, for a short distance beyond the end of the car.

The height of said frame-plate for the best re sults should be substantially that of the height of the car to which it is attached, and the same should be so shaped as to allow a free communication between the ends of adjacent cars for the passage ofpersonsthrough such frameplates.

,The purpose ofthe improvement is twofold-- first, to diminish the racking effect upon a car-body, due to its momentum when it is suddenly brought from a state of motion to a state of rest from any cause, as well as the same injurious consequences when a car is suddenly started from a state of rest, and, secondly, to diminish the tendency to a swaying or oscil- 5 lating movement which is developed whenever a train is running at high speed upon an ordinary railroad-track.

I have illustrated my improvement in the drawings by exhibiting the samein connection withanotherimprovement in ear construction, which consists of a vestibule attachment to the ends of railroad-cars for the purpose of completely inclosing the sides of the car'platform and allowing of a continuous inclosed aisle or 5 passage-way between the adjacent ends of the coupled cars of a train. This vestibule feature is no part of the present invention.

My improvement can be usefully applied to cars constructed with such 'vestibules or to cars of ordinary construction having inninclosed platforms.

Figure 1 shows in perspective the ends of two cars coupled together with my improvement added. Fig. 2 shows in perspective portions of the side and end elevations of a single 5 car. Fig. 3 is a plan of the platforms and portions of two cars coupled together, one portion showing a horizontal section through the vestibule and a part of the platform removed, and a part in a more elevated plane, showing the roof of the car with a portion of the hood removed. Fig. 4 is an isometric perspective drawing with a portion of the roof and end of car removed. Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the upper part of the vestibule of a car with aportion ofthe roof removed. Fig. 6 is a vertical longitudinal section of the upper part of a car provided with a vestibule.

So much of the drawings as represent the arrangement and construction of a vestibule attaehment are not illustrative of any invention set forth in this patent, except as the same show in combination therewith the improvement hereinafter specifically described.

In the drawings, a indicates a frameshaped plate of iron, of about six inches in width and about five-eighths of an inch in thickness. It is best shown in front view at Fig. 2 and in perspective at Fig. 4. The said dimensions are not material,provided the area of the face sur- 8o face of the frame-plate is sufficient to furnish, when in contact underpressure with the frame plate of an adjacent car in train, the needed degree of frictional resistance to the impulses which, in the running of a train, generate the 5 disposition in the cars to oscillate laterally, as 1 hereinafter more fully set forth,and provided, also, that the thickness of the frame-plate be sufficient to furnish the necessary strength to meet the conditions which exist when ca rs are being coupled into a train or when the cars are subjected to the shocks incident to sudden stoppages and startings of the train. It is far preferable that the frame-plate a should be made of either cast or wrought iron or steel; but other materialas, for example, oak or other hard woods-may be substituted therefor.

The height of the frame-plate a should, for the best results, be something over six feet in height, or as high as the wooden plate girders of the frame of the car-body, and sufficient to allow head room for a free passage ofcon1- munication between the adjacent platforms of coupled cars. These frame-plates are an ranged, as shown in the drawings, at each end of a car in vertical )iaues,which are parallel,

or substantially so, with vertical transverse planes passing through the body of the car, and when the car is detached irom a train these frame-plates will be projected beyond the ends of the car by the influence of bacle ing-springs, such as are indicated at Fig. 4 by t t m. The arrangement of these backingsprings so that they will perform their office may be various and according to the judgment ofthe constructor. 'lheend to be accomplished is to cause the frame-plates to act as springhufi'ers whenever cars are being coupled or whenever a train is suddenly checked or started,and also to actas frictional resistance-plates to oppose or counteract the influences which tend to induce a swaying or oscillating move ment in the several cars of a train.

In the present instance the front ends ot the upper set of hacking-springs take their bearings at the two upper corners, respect ively, of the frame-plate, or, as shown in the drawings, against shoulders on-tlie bars 0 c, which bars are jointed to the frame-plate at r. lhe rear ends of the springs abut against the ends of keepers 7: 7:, and through the eyes of these keepers the bars 0 0 can slide. 'lhese keepers are shown in the drawings as bolted to the sides of the vestibule extension of the cashmly, and the coiled springs 11 t are, for convenience, wound around the rods or bars 0 c. in case there be no vestibule-extension of the car-body, the keepers may he attached in any convenient way to the main body of the car, so as tofurnish resisting ahutments for the pressure-springs and guides for the rods connecting with the frame-plate.

The spring-pressu re to act against the lower portion of the frame-plates is obtained, as exhibited in the drawings, from the coiled spring in, which takes a bearing at one end against the solid framework of the car and at the other end against a cross-head beneath the entrance platform car, which cross-head, by in cans of the rigid links 88', is connected with the threshold of the frame-plate (t, the said links or barsss being knuckle-jointed to the threshold-plate e.

In place ofthe arrangement of springs shown to exert pressure upon the frameplatc, it is obvious that any other can be substituted which will meet the requirements of necessity or convenience, according to the judgment or choice of the constructor.

The operation of my improvement in railroad-car construction will be readily understood from the foregoing description and draw ings referred to in the same. To employ this improve1nent,it is not necessary that the ordinary spring-buffers in use should be dispensed with. In my judgment it would be well to retain such appliances to diminish the effect ofshocks; but it is plain that they can be superseded by my improvement, if desired. The common spring-buffers in use are arranged in a horizontal plane, coinciding substantially with a planepassing through the framingsills of the ear-platform. \Vhenever, in coupling cars togetherin atrain, or whenever the movement of a train is suddenly arrested by the application of the brakes, the superstructure of cars of ordinary construction provided with such common spi'ingbuil'ers has a tendency to continue in movemenuand this tendency is only restrained by the framing and braces which attach such SllpQlSii'llCill re to the plat form upon which the car-body rests.

By my improvement the body of the car is stayed against the raeki ng effect ofsnch shocks by the yielding frame-plate buffer, which is applied not merely in the line of the horizontal planes of the platforms, butalsn in thelincs of vertical planes extending substantially to the top of the superstructure, whereby the duration of the life of the car is greatly promoted.

At Fig. 1 two cars provided with my iniproved frame-plates or frame buffers are shown coupled together. The framrrplntcs a of the respective ears are necessarily brought face to face and are in close frictional ermtaet, each eing backed by powerful springs under tension and held in this relation to each other by the effect of the coupler attachments, such as are now in general use.

It is a commonexperience that when a train of drawingroom or sleeping cars is traveling at high speed there is induced in each car a tendency to sway or oscillate laterally. The force which induces this tendency may be relativclya slight matter; but its continued repetition results in an aggregation of impulses which accelerate the oscillations and cause unpleasant effects upon the passengers, especially when the roadbcd has reversed curves, even of great radius. Again, the effectof this motion and the arresting of it when the train takes a curve in the opposite direction is soverely racking upon. the frame-work of the cars. Especiallyis this experienced in trains of sleeping-cars which are provided with upper sleeping-berths, constituting, when occupied, a weight elevated high above the center of gravity. The effect of my improvement is to provide a resistance to this tendency to escillation by checking the same at the outset before the impulses which produce it have accumulated. The surfaces of the spri rig-backed framcplates in contact are capable of resisting all ordinary impulses to oscillation induced by the movement of the train. Moreover, as the cars of a train do not generally sway in unison, but oscillate according to the effect of particular accidents or influences, the effect of combining the cars of a train by the aid of frictional surfaces in contact under considerable pressure, such as I have shown, is to dissipate all the lateral movements of each car throughout allthe other cars so connected, and thus give steadiness to the whole train. This result will not only greatly facilitate the ease in passing from one car to another, but will enable trains of the same weight and motive power to be run safely and comfortably at higher speeds over the same road-bed than heretofore.

While I have described and shown a frameplate backed by springs as the preferred form for my vertically arranged springbuffer, which also performs the said oflice of counteracting the impulses which generate oscillating or swaying movements in trains of cars in motion, I do not limit myself to the physical presence of a frame or rectangular plate of metal or wood backed by springs, as described. If the entrance-platforms of the cars are to be inclosed by a vestibule, as shown in the draw ings, then a frame is obviously most desirable, because it enables the joint between two adjacent coupled cars to be tightly closed against the entrance of dust and cinders; but my invention will be embodied if, in place of a continuous frame, a, there be substituted a system of separate plates or buffers backed by springs arranged framewise and so as to carry out the mode of operation of the frame-plates, as hereinbefore described; and therefore in this specification I include under the term frame-plate the construction specifically shown, as well as the formal and obvious modification suggested. My invention will also be employed if, in combination with the ordinary platform-buifer in common use in railway-carriages, there be arranged a spring-buffer above the doorway or near to the roof of the car, so that when the said cars are coupled the confronting faces of the said elevated buffers upon each of the cars will press frictionally against each other under the force of pressure-springs applied to the rear faces of the buffer.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with the end of a railway-car, of a frame-plate or equivalent series of buffers backed by springs, arranged with its face in a vertical plane and normally projecting beyond the end of the car, whereby, upon the coupling of two cars, a spring-buffcr will be interposed between the superstructures of such adjacent cars above their platforms, and also frictional surfaces under opposing spring-pressures to prevent the racking of the car-frames upon sudden stoppages and to oppose the tendency of the cars to sway laterally when in motion, substantially as hereinbefore .set forth.

2. The combination of a spring-buffer or friction-plate with the ends of each of .the adjacent cars of a train, said buffers being lo cated on the ends of the superstructures ofthe cars, respectively, and substantially at the tops of the same, and so arranged that when the two cars are coupled the faces of the buffers will bear against each other in contact under pressure, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

HENRY HOWVARD SESSIONS.

W'itn esses FREDERICK C. GOODWIN, E. L. HUBER. 

